![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauraanne_gilmanBush gives it to us sans lube, once again....
The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy.
New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
...The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be "alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature."
The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told - prior to any submission for publication - "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed."
Bah and Humbug to you, too, Mr. Bush. Are you really that scared of anything that doesn't slide neatly into your narrow world-view? Because that doesn't sound like peer-review. THAT sounds like the implied threat of censorship.
What's next? Will there be a midnight knock on the door of a scientist who declares that the earth may not be the center of the universe?
I don't know what can be done to protest this. But people need to know it's happening.
(thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
windrose for the heads-up.)
The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy.
New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
...The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be "alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature."
The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told - prior to any submission for publication - "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed."
Bah and Humbug to you, too, Mr. Bush. Are you really that scared of anything that doesn't slide neatly into your narrow world-view? Because that doesn't sound like peer-review. THAT sounds like the implied threat of censorship.
What's next? Will there be a midnight knock on the door of a scientist who declares that the earth may not be the center of the universe?
I don't know what can be done to protest this. But people need to know it's happening.
(thanks to
windrose for the heads-up.)
